Posted May 19, 2014 by rich pascuzzo Road Notes

Day 04- Twisting the Day Away

A 203 mile day lay ahead taking the group from Moquegua to La Central de Ongoro. Now, 203 miles isn’t much on a normal road, but today’s venues were anything but normal. Early-on we crossed the Rio Osmore and later the Rio Tambo. Some very deep canyons were ridden and volcanic cones surrounded us almost everywhere. The day was filled with scenic variety. We would carve our way out of one valley, up and over another Andean peak, only to begin carving our way down into the next valley. Again and again we put the chicken strips of our tires to good use. Volcan Misti at 19,100 ft. and Nevado Chachani at 19, 900 ft. oversaw our progress. Approaching the Majes Valley one last 21,100 ft. peak, Coropuna, punctured the clouds. On this desert trek, the weather was as spectacular as the scenery.

Arriving at the bridge Punta Colorada in Castilla in the Arequipa region for lunch, one of the finest dishes that I have ever eaten was placed before me. Cauche de Camarones is something that I will now add to my home menu. Restaurant supply is a matter of teamwork here. One guy is in the river catching the crawfish, another guy runs them up to the restaurant and Nanci in the kitchen then works her magic. Antonio supervises, just in case you are still hungry. They’re great hosts and fun people.

Full laden with camarones, we rode on for several more hours to the Majes River Lodge. Hosts Julio and Durby met us upon arrival and directed us to park our bikes in their bull ring. This mildly caught my attention. Julio and Durby also have a small winery from which they craft Picso and wine from the Uva Negro grape, unique to their climate, and he has a bull ring. Julio graced us with a tour of his winery, glasses of his wine and Pisco and tales of archeological finds including a human skull with a bad toupee, and he has a bull ring. Quaint rooms, good local trout and wonderful hosts occupied us for the evening, and they have a bull ring.